Oded Golan

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Oded Golan (Hebrew: עודד גולן) (b. 1951 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli engineer and famous Israeli antiquities collector. Some of the artifacts he has uncovered have produced great excitement in religious and archaeological circles, and have caused allegations of fraud and forgery.

The son of an engineer and a microbiologist, Golan served in the Israel Defence Force before studying engineering at Technion. He later went on to work in a variety of high-technology roles, before founding his own informatics company.

Golan also has a keen interest in archeology and antiquities. Golan and those working with him have found a number of remarkable ancient artifacts, the discovery of which have excited great controversy. These include the Jehoash Inscription, an inscribed tablet detailing repairs done to the Temple of Solomon in the reign of King Jehoash, and (in 2002) the James Ossuary, an ossuary with an inscription which some believe (if it is in fact genuine) supports the historicity of Jesus.

Today there is a scholarly and expert debate concerning the authenticity of Golan's findings, with some deriding them as obvious forgeries and some, including international experts stating there is no doubt the artifacts are authentic. Following investigations by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israeli police announced in December 2004 that they intended to charge Golan with crimes including fraud and forgery.

The documentary film The History Merchants covered investigations into Golan and the provenance of his finds. The film alleged Golan (working with a team of people, including an expert in ancient semitic languages and an artisan) had produced a number of forged artifacts for sale on the religious antiquities market. Oded Golan describes the film as "rumor", saying it contained no real evidence and was part of a "media circus". He claims the IAA and police investigation was mishandled and persecutory. Professor Wolfgang Krumbein, an international expert in the field of ancient patina stated in his report that the tools the IAA used to examine the artifacts were unfit to make such allegations and that tests in a modern lab have proven the authenticity of at least the James Ossuary.

On December 29, 2004, Golan was indicted in an Israeli court along with three other men - Robert Deutsch, an inscriptions expert who teaches at Haifa University; collector Shlomo Cohen; and antiquities dealer Faiz al-Amaleh. They are accused of being part of a forgery ring that had been operating for more than 20 years. Golan denies the charges against him. Since then, charges were dropped against three of the men, leaving only Golan and Deutsch. Golan is still on trial.

[edit] External links

• Biography of Oded Golan
• Article about arrest
• Oded Golan's refutation of the documentary's claims
• Review of The History Merchants
• UK Daily Telegraph investigative article (May 2005)

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